Press for printing upon metal.



PATENTED JAN. 30, 1906,.

G. KREILING.

PRESS POR PRINTING UPON METAL.

APPLIGATION FILED 14.03.29. 1905.

No. 810,950. PATBNTBD JAN.' 30, 1906.

G. KRBILING.

PRESS POP PRINTING UPON METAL.

APPLIOATION FILED MAR.29, 1905.

`2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

GEORGE KREILING, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PRESS FOR PRINTING UPON METAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 30, 1906.'v

Application led March 29, 1905. Serial No. 252,664.

Toall whom, t may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE KREILING, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Presses for Printing upon Metal, of which the following is a specication.

The main objects of this invention are to provide an improved form of printing-press adapted to print directly upon the surface of sheet metal and other material which are too hard to admit of being printed upon directly byl means of ordinary plates and type. I accomplish this object by the device shown in the accompanying drawings, in whichk Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of a manually-operated press constructed according to my invention for printing upon sheet metal. The line on which said section is taken is indicated at 1 1 in Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same viewed from the left of Fig. 1.

The press shown in the drawings is designed especially for operation by hand but the various features of my invention are equally applicable to a power-driven press,

as will readily appear to one skilled in the art.

In the construction shown a pair of level tracks or guides 3 are mounted at opposite sides of the upper part of the supportingframe 4, and the carriage 5 is slidably mounted on said guides and is adapted to reciprocate from end to end of said bed. The carriage 5 is drawn along by means of a pair of parallel endless link belts 6, disposed at opposite sides of the carriage and carried by sprocketwheels 7. The sprockets 7 are rigidly mounted on horizontal shafts 8 and 9, journaled at opposite ends of the frame 4. Power is applied directly to the shaft 8 by means of a crank 8, and the operator reverses the direction of rotation of the crank whenever the carriage reaches one of the stops at the ends of the bed.

The carriage 5 has mounted thereon a transfer-cylinder 10, which is journaled on a horizontallydisposed shaft 11, and has a smooth exterior surface formed of rubber or other suitable resilient composition. A series of inking-rollers 12 and 13 is mounted in vertically-disposed Ys in the carriage and moves with the same. The lowest points of the rollers 13 are substantially level with the lowest points of the cylinder 10; but said rollers 12 and 13 are adapted to yield vertically print Which is to of the metal sheets.

yContact with the stop 23.

in their Ys independently of said cylinder. Ink is supplied to the inking-rollers by means of an ink-fountain 14, which is mounted in a relatively fixed position on the frame 4. The fountain-roller is intermittently rotated by a ratchet feed mechanism 14', operated by an eccentric 14. The ink-feed roller 29, which transfers ink from the fountain 14 to the train of inking-rollers, is carried by a rocking arm 30, pivotally mounted at 31 on the carriage and normally urged into contact with` the roller 12 by a spring 32. The arm 30 has a depending spring-arm 33, Which engages a pin or lug 34 on the frame and swings the roller 29 into contact with the fountain while the carriage is near its limiting position toward the right of Fig. 1.

The printing-plate 15 or block of type has a design Worked in relief upon its upper surface, and said design should be a positive of the be made upon the surfaces The plate 15 is mounted on a fixed part of the bed and is held in a frame 16, which is adjustable, by means of adjusting-screws 17, so as to lie exactly in the plane of the line of the cylinder 10. End stops 18 and 19 prevent the plate 15 from shifting on the frame.

The plate which is to be printed upon may be of sheet metal and is shown at 2O in the drawings and rests upon a movable bed 21, which has a level upper surface and is mounted on a pair of inclined guides 22, which are disposed longitudinally of the frame. The limiting position of the bed 21, toward in Fig. 1, is regulated by an adjustable stop 23. his stop is so adjusted that the upper surface of the sheet 20 will be at the proper level for receiving impressions from the transfer-cylinder 10 when the bed 21 is in The bed 21 has rigidly secured thereto a transversely eX- tending pin or shoulder 24, which engages a downwardly-extending lug 25 on the oarriage and causes the bed 21 to shift toward the left on the guides 22, thus lowering the late 20 when the carriage 5 approaches the iimit of its movement toward the left of Fig. 1, so that the transfer-cylinder will not touch the plate during its return movement. The movement of the bed 21 toward the left is limited by contact of the pin 24 with an adjacent part of the frame 4.

L In order to prevent the inking-rollers from the right i path of movement ofthe bottom IOO IIO

coming into Contact With the sheet 20 before rollers 29.

- the plate 15 Vsheet 20 will be shifted to c surfaces '26 are mounted at each side of the top of the frame and near the plate 20. These guides are adapted to engage the shafts of the rollers 13 and cause said rollers to rise up and ride along a plane slightly above the level of the plate.

Rotation of the transfer cylinder 10 is caused by means of twin gears 27, mounted at opposite ends of said cylinder 10 and meshing with racks 28 at each side of the frame 4. The cylinder 1() rolls along the plane of the bed and in the direction of the movement of the carriage.

When the machine is to be driven by power, I prefer to extend the inclined guides 22 toward the right and mount the frame 16 thereon, so that both the typelate 15 and the ljear the transfercylinder prior to its return movement. This prevents the possibility of obtaining blurred impressions on account of `backlash due to relative Wear between the racks 28 and gears 27. Such wear would not be noticed in a hand-machine such as is shown, but would be greater in a powerdriven machine and would soon cause the plate 15 to ink slightlydifferent parts of the cylinder 10 during its forwardand backward movements.

The operation of the device shown is as follows: By rotating the crank first in one direction and then in the other the carriage 5 moves backwardand forward along the top of the frame 4, motion in each direction being limited by stops on the frame. While the carriage 5is in the position shown in Fig. 1 fresh ink is supplied to the ink -feeding The operator now places a sheet 2() upon the bed 21 and moves said bed into contact with the stop 23. The proper position of the sheet 20 upon the bed 21 is determined according to end and side guides, which need only be slight ridges projecting above the surface of the bed 21. As the carriage moves toward the left the transfer-roll 10 takes up an impression from the plate 15 and transfers such impression to the upper surface of the sheet 20. After the impression upon the sheet 20 has been completed the lug 25 on the carriage comes in contact with the pin 24 on the bed 21. Continued movement of the carriage toward the left then shifts the frame 21 along the guides 22, so that the transfer-cylinder the sheet 20 during the return movement of thev carriage 5. In the device shown the transfer-cylinder 10 comes into contact with during its movement in each direction. The inking-rollers 13 also pass into Contact with the surface of the plate 15 as they pass over the same, but are lifted out of their normal plane through engagement with the guides 26 when said inking-rollers pass over the sheet 20. After the carriage 5 has reached the stops at the left of the frame the 10 will clear the surface ofoperator reverses the rotation of the crank and returns the carriage to the right-hand end of Fig. 1. The operator then removes the sheet 2() from the bed 21, puts a new sheet in position, and pushes said bed forward into contact with the stop 23, so that the new sheet will receive a similar impression when the carriage again comes into position above said sheet.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a device of the class described, the combination of a bed, means for securing a printing-plate upon said bed, a carriage mounted above said bed and movable along the same, a cylinder journaled in said carriage and adapted to roll along the upper surface of said plate when said carriage is moved along the same, inking mechanism for applying ink to said plate, a platen-plate adapted to hold a sheet of material with its upper surface in substantially the same plane with the up er surface of said rinting-plate, said cylin er being adapted or receiving an impression from said printing-plate and transfer-` ring said impression to said sheet when said cylinder moves along the bed, and mechanism for shifting said platen-plate so as to carry said sheet out of the path of said cylinder during its return movement.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination of a frame, a bed on said frame for supporting sheet of metal, a carriage movable forward and back along said frame above said bed, a transfer-cylinder having a layer of soft resilient material on its periphery and journaled in said carria e in position to have rolling contact with said sheet when said carriage is moved alon said bed, inclined guides supporting said be and said carria e being adapted to engage said bed and s ift the same along said guides to lower said sheet out of the return-path of said cylinder after said cylinder has passed across said sheet.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination of a frame, a bed on said frame for supporting a sheet of metal, a carriage movable forward and back alon said frame above said bed, a transfer-cylin er having a layer of soft resilient material on its periphery and journaled in said carriage in position to have rolling contact with said sheet when said carriage is moved along said bed, inclined guides supporting said bed, said carriafre being adapted to enga e said bed and shift the same along said gui es to lower said sheet out of the return-path of said cylinder after said cylinder has passed across said sheet, and a stop for limiting the position of said bed toward the u per end of said Guide.

4. In a device of t e class described, the combination of a frame, a bed on said frame for supporting a sheet of metal, a carriage movable forward and back along said frame above said bed, a transfer-cylinder having a IOO ISO

layer of soft resilient material von its periphery and ournaled in said carriage in position to have rolling contact with said sheet when said carriage is moved alon said bed, inclined guides supporting sai bed, said carriave being adapted to engage said bed and shilgt the same along said guides to lower said sheet out of the return-path of said cylinder after said cylinder has passed across said sheet, and an adjustable stop for limiting the movement of said bed toward the upper end of said guides and thereby controlling the adjustment of said sheet toward said transfercylinder.

5. In a device of the' class described, the combination of a frame,'a printing-plate supported in a horizontal position in said frame,

a bed adapted to support a sheet of metal in the same plane With said printing-plate, a carriage movable forward and back along said frame above said bed, a transfer-cylinder j ournaled in said carriage and adapted to have rolling contact With said plate and sheet When said carriage is moved along in one direction and mechanism for shifting said bed so as to move the same out ofthe path of said cylinder prior to the return movement of said cylinder.

Signed at Chicago this 24th day of March7 905.

GEORGE KREILNG.

Witnesses:

E. A. RUMMLER, GLEN C. STEPHENS. 

